Israeli commandos raided a Hamas hideout and explosives lab in the Palestinian town of Nablus today, killing four members of the Islamic militant group's military wing.

Israeli commandos raided a Hamas hideout and explosives lab in the Palestinian town of Nablus today, killing four members of the Islamic militant group's military wing.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops pulled out of nearby Tulkarem, ending a 30 hour occupation of the town. During the raid, two Palestinians were killed and 11 suspected militants were arrested.

Israel said it took over Tulkarem to track down militants and stop them attacking Israeli civilians.

The Palestinians accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of following a hidden agenda and trying to topple their leader, Yasser Arafat, who has been confined to his West Bank compound by Israel since before Christmas.

In the Nablus raid, Israeli commandos backed by several tanks entered the Al Majeen neighbourhood. In a nine storey residential building, troops stormed a ground-floor apartment where Hamas fugitives were hiding.

Four Palestinians were killed in the ensuing gun battle, the army said, correcting an earlier statement that there were five dead. Large amounts of explosives were found in the apartment, and nine suspected militants were arrested, the army said. Four soldiers were lightly hurt.

"We woke up from the sound of explosions in the apartment next door," said a neighbour, Lily Kalbouneh, a mother of two pre-school girls. "The soldiers shot on the door of the apartment next door, and called on people to get out. With my two girls, I stayed under the bed to hide from the shooting."

Palestinians said the Israeli tanks later left Nablus.

Danny Ayalon, a Sharon adviser, said Israel was doing the job the Palestinian Authority had failed to do. "In Nablus, we took out a bomb factory. When the Palestinians do not do what they have to do, by fighting terror, countering and preventing it, then we have to do it," Ayalon said.

Hamas has carried out scores of deadly attacks against Israelis in the past 16 months, including suicide bombings. Last month, Hamas agreed to partially comply with Arafat's truce call, and announced it was halting suicide bombings in Israel and stopping mortar fire.

In Tulkarem, tanks and soldiers started pulling out of the northern sections of the city at dawn today, about 30 hours after they had entered.

The takeover of Tulkarem marked the first time in 16 months of fighting that the army took control of a Palestinian Authority town. The West Bank cities were handed to Palestinian control in the 1990s, as part of interim peace agreements with Israel.